A Hero made of Straw
by Sorahoshi159
Summary: A path to one's dream doesn't have to be a straight line so long as you reach your goal. One could take a different path; diverge from the straight and smooth road and choose the rocky and rough terrain. Coby did just that. Coby-centric. Drabble series. Strawhat!Coby. *Update: Expanded crew: Strawhat!Kaku, Kaku-centric chapters, Eventual CobyxKaku.
1. Parental Guidance

**Hello, thank you for clicking my fic.**

 **I know I'm probably not the first to be making a Strawhat Coby fanfic, but this is my own take on it.**

 **I, to be quite frank and honest, cannot bring myself to rewrite all of One Piece to include Coby in it. So instead, I have created a fic that is a series of drabbles in this little world I created in which Coby has joined Luffy and Zoro in their voyage instead of staying behind in shell's town. The chapters will not be posted in any particular order and will be posted by what I manage to have written up.**

 **A lot of things has be changed to accommodate to a lot of headcanons I have.**

 **So given that, I must warn everyone that this fic is incredibly self-indulgent. I have a great love for Coby as a character and I invest a lot in my own headcanons of his character and that has all been injected into this fanfiction.**

 **Even with that warning, if you somehow find it in you to enjoy this little monster, I would be very much obliged!**

* * *

 _ **Chapter Title: Parental Guidance**_

 _ **Timeline: Some time after Skypiea, before Water 7**_

 _ **Featured Characters: Zoro, Coby**_

 _ **Summary: In which Zoro contemplates on how much Coby has grown... which leads to a crisis.**_

* * *

"496… 497… 498… 499…" Coby panted, his arms were screaming from pain and his palms felt numb holding onto the bar of the dumbbell he was pushing himself against. legs raised high into the sky as he basically did a handstand against that slim bar while doing push-ups, the weights of the dumbbell threatening to roll away, forcing him to keep his balance, the added difficulties of the task making his arms shake like jelly, ready to give in at any second as he lowered himself slowly until his chest touched the bar and that little drop of sweat on the tip of his chin touch the wooden deck. "… 500." He uttered pushing himself back up only to quickly lose balance and collapse onto the deck, turning into a pile of panting and tired mess of limbs and sweat. "DONE!" He yelled in absolute exhaustion.

"Good Job. Put the dumbbell away and after that, get ready to do a thousand sit-ups." Zoro smirked as he hopped off of the railing he had been sitting and observing Coby on his physical training. "I'll come hold your feet together after this nap." He claimed and yawned.

"Y-yes sir!" Coby immediately sat up as if the exhaustion had flown off into the horizon faster than one could blink.

Zoro just rubbed at his eyes and headed towards the upper deck for a nap, turning around he watched Coby, expecting to see the scrawny brat that had nearly pissed himself after seeing him over the Marine base walls, only… Zoro didn't see him.

What he saw was a young man nearly as tall as he was, muscles more defined, hair a little longer, face no longer as round as it used to, but his form still petit- almost like Luffy's, but Luffy was still taller by a slight bit. He'd never really noticed any of it before, but he suppose Coby had been growing more and more as their adventures continued, just as the rest of them.

His eyes then went to the round rimmed glasses resting atop of the bandages on Coby's forehead, covering the wound he received from Enel to protect Robin. He vaguely remembered Chopper talking about how it was going to scar- which was something they all found as odd. They all received some sort of lightning inflicted wound from the faux God, but Coby was the only one to receive a permanent mark. "You don't wear your glasses too often anymore huh." Zoro pointed out, though he was going to ask if the wound still hurt after this month or two, he couldn't help but notice the glasses first. The loss of them really affected how visible Coby's eyes were to others.

Coby blinked before turning to look at Zoro, lifting the dumbbell with slight ease. "Oh- I guess you've noticed, but I'm actually far sighted. I used to wear the glasses often so I don't trip on anything close by, but I think the Mantra helps me from tripping these days." He revealed.

Zoro hummed before another bout of yawn crawled out of his mouth. Time for a nap. He sat by the railings, getting ready for a much needed (not really), and well deserved (not really), nap. Though as he leaned his back to the wood, he couldn't help but allow his mind to drift off to how Coby had grown up from being so tiny and squishy; to someone more reliable, and to be honest, Zoro somewhat missed the tiny wimp that followed after him. Sure Coby still did follow him and give him better shortcuts to go through than his own (his way was still a shortcut, it's just that Coby's was also a shortcut and happens to get them to their destination in time. Shut up.) but it didn't feel quite the same. He no longer needed a third eye on the back of his head, to watch out for Coby.

Dare he say, it almost felt as if one of his sons were growing up- Wait.

 _Son_ _ **s**_ _?!_

 _With an '_ _ **s**_ ' _at the end?!_

He had more than one?

Whose the other?

No wait, in the first place, Coby was too close to his age to be considered his son.

Plus he doesn't even wield a sword.

A son of his would definitely be a swordsman.

Yeah.

No!

He _doesn't_ have a son!

He's not that old yet!

"I'm only nineteen, damn it!" Zoro yelled out without meaning to, sitting up like he had a bad dream, causing a worried Coby to run up the stairs.

"Zoro-san is something wrong?!" Coby cried out as he got up the stairs.

Zoro flinched and decided to play it cool. "Nothing. Just a dream." He claimed.

Coby blinked at that before sighing squatting down to look at Zoro eye to eye. "Did the authorities finally figure out you're drinking while underaged so they took away your swords?" He asked looking relieved and amused.

"I'll fucking **_shred_** you." Zoro threatened, which only caused Coby to chuckle.

Well, if there was one thing he didn't miss, it was how Coby had been afraid of him. He much preferred this Coby. This one who looks him in the eye and laughs with him, from the one that had thought he was a scary demon.

* * *

 **I hope you all enjoyed it.**

 **If you have any questions regarding this fics, just put them in the reviews and I'll reply to your questions in the next chapter ^^**

 **Thank you for reading!**


	2. First Step

**Hello and welcome back! Thank you for once again coming back to this wild little fic Starring Coby!**

 **I won't make this super long because the chapter itself is a little long.**

 **I'm thankful to everyone who favorite and followed this story and I hope I can keep everyone pretty chill with this chapter.**

 **It occurred to me that i should have probably posted this first, but I did explain that I wasn't going to post these in any form of chronological order, so you're getting it as a second chapter!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Title Chapter: The First Step**

 **Timeline: Shell's town, after free-ing Zoro**

 **Featured Characters: Coby, Luffy, Zoro**

 **Summary: After seeing Axe Hand Morgan and witnessing the abuse and the other marines' willingness to follow him despite his obvious corrupt nature, Coby starts to think about his choices, starts to doubt his initial goal of joining the Marines. When a different path is forced open by Luffy, Coby remembers scenes from his past... and his dream.**

* * *

What was it that he wanted to become?

Coby thought long and hard about the answer to that question as he sat on his chair at the table where Zoro and Luffy stuffed their faces full of food. A glass of orange juice in his hand, the glass faintly reflecting his worried expression. So much happened earlier that day, almost too much happened, he could barely keep up to think about it… Until now that is.

What was it?

He couldn't help but think of the Marine Captain they had encountered, or rather, the former Marine Captain. Then he thought about the marines who worked under his tyrannical rule. All of them had only worked under him because they were scared, because he was higher in authority, because he was stronger.

But they had tried to shoot themselves because that was what Morgan told them to do. Why? Was that what devoting to the name of Justice meant? Killing your comrades just because they were useless? Listening to those higher than you and committing suicide in the process?

It was no different.

He couldn't help but to compare it to the time when he was under Alvida's thumb. The fear of death, not knowing when he'll be killed. That every day where he had no choice but to follow her orders to a T. He had been so scared every day… but when Helmeppo had aimed a gun to his head, he wasn't scared at all.

Why?

It was because he didn't care for his own life. He cared more for the life of the only friend he had made in his pathetic little life. He wasn't under anyone, he wasn't following, or going against, any orders. He was a free man.

If he died at the time, then he did it to save someone. He died because that was what he decided, he lived for someone.

That thought was enough to calm him, to steel his resolve, despite being at gun-point.

Would joining the marines mean he would return to that daily life of fear and regret?

Why… Did he think of joining the marines all this time?

* * *

 _"I wanna be a _!"_

 _"Fufu, Coby has big dreams huh? Then I suppose that means you'll have to be a marine."_

 _"A marine…? Would becoming a marine make me a _?"_

 _"Hm… Well, there's a lot of different ways, but becoming a marine might be the fastest way."_

 _"The fastest?"_

* * *

It was a conversation Coby barely remembered. It was one of the very last ones he had with the important people in his life.

Once that fishing accident happened, he was in the care of the whole town, someone always checked on him, made sure he ate right, and taught him how to fish.

It was still hazy and he could barely remember… but he feels like it was missing something.

Something very important.

"Man I'm stuffed! Haven't eaten in nine days! Thought I was gunna starve to death!"

"Then there's no way you'll last a month."

"You… you're so scrawny, how the hell are you eating more than me?"

"Auntie! I want a refill!"

"You're _still_ eating?!"

"They said the food's free! That means free refills! Right Coby?" Luffy asked, his cheeks puffed and filled with food, a bone of a chicken sticking out of his lips. When he didn't receive a reply, he looked over to Coby. "Coby?" He called again.

"Huh?" Coby asked as he finally snapped out of his deep thoughts, only to realize that Luffy had been trying to call him. "O-Oh uh- sorry- I was uh- I'm sorry you had to treat me to a meal as well, Mrs." He awkwardly diverted the fact he wasn't paying attention, turning to the owner of the establishment instead.

"Don't worry about it. All three of you saved this town, eat as much as you like." The owner kindly said as she brought out another plate for Luffy to eat.

"You barely ate." Zoro stated as he pointed to Coby's one nearly empty plate of food, comparing it to the multiple empty plates of food piled next to himself and Luffy.

"I don't eat much, is there a problem with that?" Coby asked.

"You're gonna stay weak and scrawny forever." Zoro claimed, causing Coby to flinch in shock.

Luffy continued to stare at Coby, almost as if he was contemplating something.

"Hey big brothers!" Rika came over with a big smile. "You're really strong huh!" She exclaimed, diverting Luffy's short attention span.

"Yeah. We're going to grow even stronger!" Luffy boasted.

"Speaking of. What's our next plan?" Zoro asked.

"We're gunna take on the Grand Line!" Luffy exclaimed.

Somehow Luffy expected Coby to explode like he had when he explained about his dream, but it didn't come.

"Grand Line…" Coby muttered, once again looking at the glass of orange juice.

"Grand Line huh." Zoro smirked. "Sounds good to me. I'm sure we can handle it."

"Wait-" Coby seemed to register something. "You're not planning on going with just the two of you, are you?!" He asked.

Oh there it is. "There a problem with that?" Luffy asked in confusion.

"Yeah there's a problem!" Coby exclaimed, slamming his hands onto the table and standing up. "Grand Line is where all the most ferocious and dangerous pirates all gather together! To say that you'll both go there alone? That's just reckless! Impossible! It's impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Coby exclaimed only for two fists to bonk him on the head.

Sitting hunched over, Coby whimpered from the pain. "Why did you both hit me…?" He asked Luffy and Zoro.

"Just because." They both replied.

"Why are you worried anyway?" Zoro asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm worried because you plan on going _without a plan_!" Coby exclaimed. "Luffy-san doesn't even know the basics of navigation!"

"You don't?"

"Nope."

"And Zoro-san. Do _you_ know any basic navigation?" Coby asked.

"Nope." Zoro explained. "I let the ocean take me where it wants." He explained.

"I do the same thing!" Luffy grinned, causing Zoro to grin back.

See. Their method of transportation works!

Like hell it did. Coby had his face buried in his hands. "I really can't recommend you both going on your own." He uttered out.

"Why not? Why does it matter?" Luffy whined.

"It matters because I'm your friend!" Coby declared strongly, only to falter and shrink into himself a little. "… I _am_ your friend… Aren't I?" He asked, looking at the two of them.

Luffy grinned. "Definitely!" He confirmed without a second thought.

Zoro was a little more hesitant. Though as his eyes trailed to the shorter teen's bandaged arm… he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "… I guess." He admitted.

Coby smiled wider as he looked down. "… I've never had any friends as a kid… All the other kids just pushed me around cuz I was an orphan… So you're both my first friends." he claimed.

Zoro and Luffy stared at Coby.

"Man you're pathetic." Zoro suddenly claimed, he himself had been an orphan, yet he would have punched anyone who makes fun of him.

Coby flinched. "I don't want to hear that from the big softie with a scary face!" He returned.

"Ah?!" Zoro glared and got up, ready to fight, causing Coby to shriek and for Luffy to laugh at the spectacle.

Coby nervously waved his hands at Zoro to stop any violence against him. "A-anyway! Because I am your friend, I worry about you! Is that so wrong?" He asked them.

Zoro sat down, still sour over the comment. Luffy, on the other hand, looked over to Coby before putting his attention back onto his plate of food.

"Then you wanna come with us?" Luffy asked before taking a bite of a large chicken stick.

"Huh?" Coby couldn't help but utter, his eyes going a little wide as he looked towards Luffy. "What?" He asked.

"On our adventure." Luffy said as he grinned Coby. "You're a little noisy and you're weak, but Coby's got guts! You got shot but you still tried to help Zoro and you trusted me even when that weird mushroom head dude was gunna shoot you." He said before turning to Zoro. "Got a problem with having one more to take with us?" He asked.

Zoro blinked before looking at Coby and grinned. "None, but doesn't he want to become some marine?" He asked.

"He can become one after." Luffy reasoned.

"Idiot. A former pirate can't become a marine." Zoro scoffed.

"Oh." Luffy claimed before looking over to Coby. "Come on! Become a pirate!" He urged.

"Oi." Zoro called out with a sigh. He was completely exasperated by the man's simple enthusiasm.

"We won't treat you like that fat ugly lady, so become a pirate with us!" Luffy ignored Zoro in all of his eagerness.

Coby stared at Luffy before looking down at his glass of orange juice again. "Become a pirate…?" He wondered out loud.

"Being a pirate is fun! We'll help you get stronger too!" Luffy punched the air to point this out.

"What are you saying!" a new voice interrupted them

The group of three blinked and turned to the door.

By the mentioned door, were the marines from the headquarters, the highest ranking of them stood in front.

"Pirates are criminals. What do you two plan on doing coercing this boy." The leader of them asked.

"What? You guys came for another fight?" Zoro asked, slightly unsheathing one of his swords.

Many of the marines behind the leader flinched and backed away a little.

"We didn't come to do any of the sort." The head marine claimed as he adjusted his hat. "But we did come to give you two a warning. You may have saved this town… but pirates are still pirates. I will have to ask you to leave this island quietly." he said, causing an uproar outside the store.

"What the hell marines!"

"This isn't fair!"

The town's people cried out, but Luffy and Zoro didn't really mind.

"Oh? Okay I guess." Luffy said as he and Zoro stood up.

"We were going anyway." Zoro said. "Thanks for the food." He thanked the restaurant owner while Luffy grinned at Rika.

"Come on, Coby!" Luffy called out to Coby as he stood by the entrance, only to see that Coby had gotten up from his seat, but hasn't moved an inch from where he stood. "Hey." he called out.

Coby stared at Luffy and Zoro, unsure of what to say. If he were to speak up right now, he would be forfeiting his chance to join the marines. But if he were to stay silent and not acknowledge them, then he'd be still have that chance.

What was he to do? In the two years he lived under Alvida, he kept dreaming of joining the marines and putting Alvida behind bars, but that was only because she was a big fat jerk. Meanwhile, he had no such thoughts with Luffy. In fact, hearing the invitation to join the crazy rubber man's crew- it brought him warmth and joy he couldn't quite express.

"I…"

Which way was he supposed to go?

Which way was the right way?

Which path would lead him to his dream?

Justice… Or Freedom?

* * *

" _The fastest?"_

" _Mhm."_

" _Does that mean I'll be a _ if I become a marine?!"_

" _Yes, and no dear…"_

" _... I don't get it."_

" _There are many different ways… and whichever way you go, you'll get to your dream if you work your hardest. As long as you believe in what you think is right, and you follow that heart no matter what. It doesn't matter if you become a marine, a bounty hunter, a revolutionary, or even a pirate. You'll get there."_

" _Okay!"_

* * *

" _Coby… I'm sorry to tell you, but your parents died in that storm yesterday. They got washed off shore too far… We couldn't make it… We're really sorry."_

" _Poor thing, he's so small…"_

" _Don't worry Coby, we'll protect you! We'll even teach you how to fish!"_

" _... I'll become a marine…"_

" _A marine? What a splendid dream! I'm sure your parents from above will be proud."_

" _It's… Not my dream…"_

" _Huh?"_

" _It's not… It's just… The fastest way there."_

* * *

Luffy stared at Coby as the smaller teen didn't respond one bit to his call. Staring blankly, he held onto his hat and brought it down to hide his eyes. "I see." he mumbled, a little solemnly as he headed out without another word.

Zoro stared at Luffy before looking over to Coby again. "Hey Coby." he called out.

Coby snapped out of it, looking up at Zoro who pierced him with a stare.

"What kind of a man can't even state his dream?"

The words hit him like a wave, leaving him drenched, cold and in mild shock. Unable to really say anything, or to refute, Coby was left to watch Zoro leave as well. He stood there contemplating those words.

His dream…

Yeah…

Yeah!

His dream!

Once the two pirates went out of the store, the head marine walked over to Coby. "That was a close call... wasn't it, young man." he began. "We saw your braveness in the midst of that execution grounds. If becoming a marine is what you want. We can certainly look past your-"

"No..."

The head marine blinked, staring at the short pink haired teen. "Pardon?"

"No!" Coby repeated louder, his hands clenched into a fist. "I don't want to become a marine!" he claimed and took off. "Excuse me, pardon me, so sorry, let me through!" he uttered out as he squeezed past the marines blocking the entryway, and the streets. Once past them, he looked around, trying to figure out which way was the port.

Though, before he left, he turned around to look at the head marine. "Thank you for the kind offer! But I'm sorry, I'll have to politely decline!" he called out with a big wide grin on his face. Bowing low once, he took off towards the port with a clear goal within his sight.

The head marine stared, but couldn't help but to smile at the sight of the big grin, and the young man's strong back.

"I see…"

* * *

"Are you sure you're fine with that?" Zoro asked Luffy, as he untied the rope keeping the boat onto the port.

"I'm sure." Luffy answered strongly.

Zoro hummed. "For someone who's sure. You're extremely depressed." he pointed out to how his (now) captain was draped over the figurehead of the dinghy they call a ship.

"Yeah… But Coby's gutta choose it himself. I'm not gunna force him." Luffy claimed.

"Says the guy who practically blackmailed me with my swords." Zoro scoffed as he got onto the boat and unfurled the sails, allowing the wind to start drifting their dinghy out into the ocean.

"Wait!"

Luffy and Zoro perked upon hearing the voice. Turning around, they saw Coby standing there on the port, out of breath.

"Coby!" Luffy called out happily.

"What? Came to thank us or something?" Zoro asked.

Coby continued to pant, looking up- only to keep panting, raising a hand as if asking them to allow him some time to respond.

' _This kid needs more stamina._ ' Zoro couldn't help but think.

Coby continued to pant until he was able to talk again. "My dream…." he mumbled.

Luffy blinked a little as he stared at Coby, waiting for him to speak.

Coby stared at Luffy, looked him dead in the eyes. "I… I said I wanted to become a marine. I said that was my goal! But that's not true!" he claimed as he stepped closer, and closer.

"Then, what is it?" Luffy asked, his face blank, his tone serious.

Coby stared at Luffy, he opened his mouth, but something kept him from speaking. It was as if something was stuck in his throat; like someone was trying to hold him back, trying to root him down.

But no.

He decided he was going to stand up for himself. He decided he was going to speak what was on his mind!

No more pushing around!

No more discouraging himself!

He was going to become stronger.

"My dream is… My dream is-!"

" _I wanna be a hero!"_

"MY DREAM IS TO BECOME A STRONG AND KIND _**HERO**_!" Coby screamed on the top of his lungs.

Luffy couldn't stop the grin stretching across his face. "Hero…" he whispered under his breath, excitement bubbly from within.

"A hero?" Zoro asked. "Shouldn't you be saying that to the marines?" he asked, a little amused.

"No!" Coby called out. "I don't want to become a marine! It- It might be the fastest way! Maybe- maybe everyone will tell me I have to become one to get to my dream- but I don't want to go that way! I don't _need_ the fastest way there!" he said, almost stepping over the edge of the port. "I'll get to my dream, _my way_!"

"I might… I might get in your way a lot… I'm scrawny, I'm weak, I'm a scaredy-cat! Cleaning is the only thing I can do right!" Coby claimed, tears gathering in his eyes, struggling to reign them in the further the dinghy went. "I- don't care if I'll get to my dream in a-a hundred years. I don't ca-care if this is the wrong w-way… I-if your- if your offer still stands-!" he sobbed, his tears overflowing so much he had to take off his glasses to see them.

"LET ME INTO YOUR CREW! I WANT TO GO WITH YOU! TO THE **GRANDLINE**!"

Luffy didn't need to think twice for his response to Coby's strong resolve. "Get over here, you moron!" he called out.

Zoro grinned. "Get on before we get too far!" he called out.

Coby blinked before a smile reached his expression.

"Hurry up!" Zoro called out impatiently.

Coby flinched. "R-right!" he called out and wore his glasses again before jumping into the water and swimming over to the dinghy.

"Come on!" Luffy called out as Coby finally reached the dinghy, and pulled him up with Zoro's help.

The three teens looked at each other and grinned, before Luffy noticed something.

"ALL MEN SALUTE!"

Coby blinked and turned around, only to see the marines of Shell's town salute them.

"THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICES IN THIS TOWN!" The head marine called out.

Luffy chuckled and waved as the town's people joined in on sending them off. Zoro merely looked amuse by their antics.

"We just saluted pirates, and violated the Marine's code! So our punishment will be to go with no food for a week!" The head marine declared.

"YES SIR!" The other marines agreed.

Coby took one long look at the sliver of the life he was leaving behind. The small vision of the future he might have had... made him smile confidently over his choice.

Maybe he took the wrong path, maybe he was going to regret this somewhere down the road. But right now, he didn't regret a single thing.

He didn't regret taking his first step down this road.

This first step... this first step will lead to his dream.

Thus began a slightly different kind of Adventure.

* * *

 **And that is all for this chapter!**

 **I had never did have trouble deciding on Coby's dream. Everyone in the Strawhat crew has big dreams and I wanted Coby's dream to match up to how big everyone else's is. I hope I did it justice! (pun not intended)**

 **His canon dream was to enlist in the marines and fight bad guys, so I decided to center his dream about fighting bad guys and doing good in the world.**

 **Heckityheckheck: Yes, there will be more chapters, I have at least twenty different drabbles already written out :)**

 **Thank you for reading!**


	3. Groggy Ring and a Different Ballman

**I'M SO SORRY FOR DISAPPEARING!**

 **Life got so messed up for me for a while, and honest to god, the document I wrote all of these Coby stories in (yes I write them all in one doc for convenience) wouldn't open long enough for me to finally copy-paste them!  
**

 **But that issue has finally been fixed, and I promise I will be posting them more frequently (I hope. -sweats-)**

 **ALSO, this fic will now be including another character added to the Strawhat crew aside from Coby, as you may have noticed it from the summary change. BUT ONLY HIM. There will be NO other added into the crew aside from these two, and this is mainly to satisfy my headcanon that Coby is completely gay, and my crackship urges. So I apologize if that does not sit very well with everyone. This may not be the story for you, but _I WILL BE MARKING ALL CHAPTERS THAT ARE VERY SHIPPY WITH (*) ON THEM._ In case you wish to completely avoid those chapters and want to only focus on only nakama-ship moments.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Title Chapter: Groggy Ring and a Different Ball-man**

 **Timeline: After Skypiea, during the Davy Back Fight, Before Water 7. (Coby is now pre-timeskip growth spurt and no longer squishy)**

 **Featured Characters: Coby, Strawhat Pirates, Foxy Pirates.**

 **Summary: After Chopper has been taken away due to losing the previous game, the next game is about to start- but Chopper was supposed to enter the next game alongside Sanji and Zoro! With no other choice, the Strawhats decide to tag-in the unwilling Coby as his replacement. The rules are somewhat explained and the Ball-man is...!**

* * *

"Just do whatever the hell you want with me!" Chopper declared, causing the men of the Foxy Pirates to cry out from how cool they thought the raccoon ( **"I'm a reindeer!"** ) was.

"All we gotta do is win him back in the next game!" Luffy declared, all hyped for the next game despite how he wasn't participating in it. Somewhere behind him, Nami beckons Robin to come over, whispering something in her ear, causing the older woman to smile daintily.

"In the next game, the participants are Zoro… Sanji… and- wait! Chopper was suppose to play in the next game. We're one man short!" Usopp claims.

"Fefefefe!" An annoying laughter comes their way. "That's simply how the Davy Back Fight goes!" Foxy exclaims with an air of arrogance. "Now that the Doctor's one of us- of course there's no way he'll be allowed to participate as part of _your_ crew. Substituting is also not allowed. You follow with the program you've handed in." He says.

"That's unfair, stupid, and you're a jerk." Coby says bluntly, allowing his words to stab the sly Captain.

"Stupid… and jerk… He called me… me..." Foxy begins to brood over the young Quartermaster's words, his feelings obviously hurt.

"No~ Oyabin get a hold of yourself!" Porche began to comfort the man, scowling at Coby while Hamburg was trying to stifle his laughter. "You little- even if you bad mouth our Oyabin, you won't be allowed to add a new player! Rules are rules!" She exclaims, pointing her baton at them.

"Yeah, sorry, this guy doesn't know when to shut up sometimes." Usopp quickly waves her off, slapping his hand over Coby's mouth, the pink-haired young man still glaring at Foxy nastily. He just can't stand nasty and arrogant people who refuses to play fair!

"Who cares. Two of us is enough." Sanji says confidently as he and Zoro heads for the field.

"Hold it, Sanji-kun. Zoro." Nami calls out, stopping the two men. "Seems like you all forgot, but you're going to be in this game as a three-man team." She says, effectively confusing everyone in the vicinity.

"But Chopper-" Usopp tries to remind Nami, confused.

"Chopper was never going to be playing in the second round, Nagahana-kun, don't you remember?" Robin smiles enigmatically as ever. "Mr. Announcer, could you kindly read out the names of those who will be participating in the next game, again?" She asks sweetly.

Itomimizu blinks a few times before deciding that there was no harm in doing as so kindly asked by the beautiful woman. He looks down at the piece of paper in his hands, only to be shocked. "Wha-What is this?!" He exclaims dramatically, catching everyone's attention. "It seems I have made a mistake? The one playing for the Strawhat team is not the Doctor, Tony Tony Chopper! But actually it is the Quartermaster of the crew! COOOOOOOOBYYYYYYY!" he announces loudly and excitingly, causing several eyes to pop in his direction.

"EEEEEEEEEEEH?!" they all exclaim.

" _ **M-Me?!**_ " Coby cries out in shock. He wasn't supposed to be participating in any of the events!

"So that was the case!" Luffy smacks Coby's back in good nature. "So you ARE participating! And you said you didn't want to! You actually really wanted to huh Coby!" he laughs.

"B-but I really didn't…" Coby mumbles after recovering from the heavy smack to his back.

Foxy, in the very moment it was announced, quickly recovered before making his way up to the stage so fast you could see dust clouds trail his path. Taking the piece of paper from the announcer, he read the program, only to be in shock by how Chopper's name had been crossed out and Coby's name was written down instead. "WHAAAAAAAAAAAA?!" he exclaimed.

"Oh, well, that's convenient." Sanji accepts it as is. Whatever happened, having a full team still is an advantage to level the playing field, even if it _is_ unnecessary.

"I can still win by myself." Zoro claims, fully confident in his own skills.

Usopp blinks before the gears in his head starts to turn. "Huh? But I was the one who wrote the program… I was sure that I-..." he mutters in confusion, only to feel a hand on his shoulder, but when he turns… he sees no one. He feels another tap from his other shoulder this time, and he turns to his left where he finally sees a hand sprouting from his back and was now holding the tip of a pen to his cheek. "H-hey!" he tries to smack at the hand, but it merely disperses into petals.

Robin can't help but to giggle as Usopp blinks and picks the pen up from the ground.

"Hey- this is my pe-" two and two finally clicks to Usopp's head and he turns to look at the women of their crew.

Robin just smiles, and Nami grins mischievously, forming her hand into an "okay" sign.

Usopp returns the grin with one of his own. The women of their crew was definitely something!

Coby, having seen the exchange between the sniper and the two women, isn't as happy or enthusiastic. He didn't want to play! "You guys really shouldn't have…" he despairs on all four.

"Well, it's better than letting those two go without a buffer in between." Nami huffs as she jabs her thumb in the direction of Sanji and Zoro, the two men already having a brief argument. "Just don't think about tripping-up, you're better than you think. Just do it for Chopper." she gives Coby a brief pep-talk.

Coby stares at Nami before looking over to the stage where Chopper was being smothered by Porche. Getting up a little, he puffs up his chest a bit and exhales through his nose. "Right. I'll do my best. For Chopper." He decides with a small smile.

"Atta-boy, Coby!" Nami grins. "Make sure Zoro doesn't accidentally leave the field or accidentally shoot into our goal." she tells him.

"Oi." Zoro calls out, his ears sensitive to any and all insults regarding his sense of direction. Even while in an argument with Sanji.

"Come on, Nami-san. Look at the field, it's so wide and open, surely Zoro-san won't… Won't..." Coby tries to smile it off, but his expression melts into one of concern instead. The sudden thought of Zoro getting lost in such a wide open space due to all the back and forth... it was all too real. "... You can count on me." he says with a thumbs up.

"OI!" Zoro yelled out indignantly.

Luffy laughs at his crew's interactions. "Shishishi! Go Zoro! Sanji! Coby! For Chopper!" he cheers as all three men heads for the field, Coby walking in-between the other two, trying to ensure they don't start a short match in the field.

"Alright, if you're all ready- which of you are going to be the Ball-man?" The referee asks, coming over with a hat.

Zoro and Sanji takes one look at the gaudy and ridiculous looking hat, before coming to a conclusion; he was _not_ wearing that stupid thing. "Him." Zoro and Sanji quickly points to each other. "Ah?!" they then scowl, butting heads and allowing the spark of rivalry to form.

Coby's sweat drops as he watches them go at it so soon. "Uh… just to be clear, what does the ball-man... do?" he actually takes care to properly ask the referee.

"Well, we're going to explain the rules soon, but to make a long explanation short, the ball-man is literally the ball of the game and generally they get tossed around and manhandled into the rings." the Referee explains. "The whole goal of the game is to get the other team's ball-man into your respective ring."

Coby hums and nods his head, as if unperturbed by the notion of being tossed around and manhandled. "Sounds easy enough. I'll be the ball-man." he says and take the hat to wear upon his head.

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold it." Zoro and Sanji breaks out of their spark as Coby wears the hat.

"Did you say the ballman get's _manhandled_? Doesn't that make it the most painful position in this game?" Sanji questions the ref.

"Well, everything about this is painful, it's a pirate's game, but yeah. It is." The referee confirms.

"Hey, Coby…" Zoro calls out as Coby straps the hat securely to his head.

"I'll be fine, guys." Coby just smiles, though it doesn't quite reach his eyes. "In fact I think it'd be best for me to be in this position." he hums and pokes the ball.

"But Coby your injury…" Sanji starts protesting. Among all of them, Coby was still recovering from his injuries back at the Sky Island. The bandage on his forehead was not to be removed, and any shock to his forehead can cause the already bad scar to worsen.

Coby just looks subdued, not even turning to look at his two friends as he adjusts the strap one last time. "I've been tossed around all my life, and I've already been manhandled against my will before. It's not that big of a deal... I'm... used to it." he says.

The crowd all went quiet, the mood going sober after hearing the pirate's confession.

The one to break the silence is Coby himself. He turns to his friends with a smile that hid the pain behind the words he just spoke, trying to brush it off as he'd done before. Still his smile is genuine "I'm counting on you guys. I'm pretty useless but... Come on, let's just get it over with! Chopper's counting on us." he tells them. "We have to get him back. Our Nakama." he says softly, a certain almost angelic elegance to him.

His words resound like a signal, and all noise return at once. Almost startling the Quartermaster.

Chopper begins to bawl, not from his circumstance, but due to Coby's sad monologue. "DORO! ZANJI! YOU GOTDA WIN! COBY BE GAREFUL!" he called out through sniffles and sobs, his pronunciation all garbled from the snot and tears.

"You can do it Sanji! Just kick them straight into the goal! Just end it before they can get near Coby!" Usopp cheers with gusto.

"Zoro! If you let them so much as _touch_ Coby, expect your debt to go up by ten percent!" Nami threatens fiercely.

"Gooooooooo Coby, Zoro, Sanji!" Luffy cheers with a big wide grin, he has every faith that their crew was going to win this game. He believes them with all his might.

Robin can't help but to laugh at how the young quartermaster reacts. He just looks so confused by why everyone was suddenly even more riled up. It was very amusing, though she didn't quite like how the young man was disregarding his own safety. Then again, he already showed how little he cared for himself, when it concerns his friends, back at Skypiea. "Be careful, Megane-kun!" Robin gives out a call herself, genuinely wanting the young man to stay safe during this game.

"Damn it! Ref! Change the ball-man! **I'll be the fucking ball-man**!" Sanji demands, desperately wanting to ensure Coby's safety now- not that he will ever admit to that out loud.

"Nope! No take-backs! We're about to explain the rules!" The ref claims, finding that they've been taking up too much time.

Sanji tsk-ed while Zoro cracked his knuckles, a different Foxy member told him that weapons aren't allowed, and so he handed his swords to Nami.

"You pull my leg, and I'll shred you, shit-cook." Zoro threatens darkly.

"Ah? That's my line, fucking marimo." Sanji scowls.

"YOU WANNA GO?!" Zoro and Sanji glowers at each other.

"Uh… guys?" Coby tries to call out, only for their attention to land on him instead.

"Don't you even think about leaving my vicinity!" Zoro and Sanji finds themselves exclaiming at the poor, confused, Quartermaster of their crew. "Stop copying me!" they then yell at each other.

"Guys…?" Coby tries to call out again- but Zoro and Sanji have already began to have a brawl amongst themselves. "... Are we really going to win this?" he can't help but to wonder out loud as Nami yells at the two idiots to stop fighting and focus.

Thus begins a slightly different Groggy Ring game.

* * *

 **Yes! Hello and thank you for reading!**

 **I hope you all enjoyed, and the issue about his scar and all of that will be revealed in a future chapter, but if you wish to know, leave me a comment and I will answer that question in the next chapter!**

 **DigiXBot: haha! Yeah. Bold of you to assume that he wouldn't just willingly give them his food and wine though. XD**

 **MysteriousPerson: -nervous laughter- hahaha... Well now that I look at it, it kinda is similar. I never really noticed until you point it out, but I guess it's pretty cool? -sweats-**

 **SwordOfTheGods: I know! I'm sorry for suddenly disappearing but my life was a mess and I couldn't open the doc for such a long time and in the meantime I changed a bit of the premise of this au with the addition of another character and got nervous about how that would be received! But! In the meantime! I've written out more drabbles for this fic so please forgive me...**

 **Thank you for reading!**


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